LoL: Stuck in Elo Hell, Part Two

Wutswrong is a 2100 Elo Season 2 player. You can follow him on Twitch.tv here.

In part one, we learned to prepare mentally by changing up the perspective of attitude. Some of you are probably thinking, "Get to the good stuff! Tell me the juicy bits!" Before I get to that, let me re-emphasize how important the last article was. Before you learn to shoot a gun, you must learn to respect and take care of the weapon. You don't go around shooting first and maintenance second, or at least you shouldn't. This is the same with gaming. If you skipped part one, I highly suggest you read that before continuing further.

WHY THE PROS ARE PROS AND WE'RE JUST STUCK IN ELO HELL

No matter how positive your attitude is, you can only go so far on just a positive mindset. You need developed mechanical skills, or simply raw talent. To be blunt, the professionals are more talented than we are. They can click faster, their reactions are faster, and they are more accurate. Mechanics in League of Legends include: Last hitting, zoning, denying, exchanging, positioning, teamfighting, and everything else that involves you clicking and smashing buttons.

Doublelift showcases his Vayne mechanics and why he's one of the best AD carries in the world

UNDERSTANDING BASIC MECHANICS

Mechanics can be refined and improved with practice. Make sure you are practicing the right way. Having 1000 games of Ahri doesn't make you a good Ahri player. Watching streams of pro players and "how to" videos can be much more effective than playing countless games. But watching 50 hours of video doesn't make you a good player either. If you want get better, combine watching streams and videos with practice.

Pro Tip 1: If you are at a loss for practicing mechanics, always work on these two simple ideas: Less deaths and higher creep score.

These two tips will improve your basic mechanics and once you can do that, you'll start to see improvements. Don't forget, this tip is specifically dedicated to improving your mechanics. This isn't necessarily the key to winning games or raising your elo (although they are highly correlated).

One of the biggest problems for players trying to improve mechanically is that you only play against other people your range. So if you are 800 elo, you will be against 800 elo players. As a result, it may become difficult to point out your mistakes since there is no one there to criticize you. You have to play with or against better players to be better but you just aren't given the chance. Try playing with friends that are better than you and have an open mind about it. Ask them to criticize you on what you could've done better. Eventually, you can start pointing out your own mistakes.

I cannot emphasize this point enough. When you're in solo queue, every position (ADC may vary) should buy wards. Top lane, mid lane, jungler, support, and even AD carry if the situation calls for it. Remember the "less deaths" part? Warding will drastically help you stay alive. You will know when the jungler or the enemy laners are ganking. Here and here is a good example of the places you can ward to avoid being ganked.

Pro Tip 3:The best way to rise in ELO is to master 2-3 characters rather than trying to learn everything

The mechanics for support, jungle, top lane, mid lane, and AD carry are all different. Some of these positions have shining similarities and they also have massive differences. Instead of trying to be the all around guy able to play every position, you should focus on 2-3 positions with your best 2-3 champions per position. I understand that some of you feel comfortable filling any role and are willing to play anything. That is completely fine. But being the best on 2-3 champions is a much better strategy to winning than being mediocre/good on 7-8 champions. Even professionals stick to this tactic. HotshotGG is known for his Nidalee and ChoGath. TheOddOne is known for his Nocturne and Maokai. Diamondproxx is known for his Lee Sin and Shyvana. Here is an example of truly mastering your champion

Common Myth Busted

It's more fun to play at a higher elo because the people in that elo are better

How much fun you have comes from your attitude, not from elo or skill. Skill is only relative to you. You may feel that games are more satisfying because you are playing better than you did before. If you were 1200, then you were playing at a 1200 level. That means 1000 elo players seem terrible and 1400 elo players look amazing. But if you rise to 1400, your range has been lifted. You will consider 1200 players to be bad and 1600 elo players to be good. You can say in hindsight that you could feel "the difference" in skill, trolls, feeders, enjoyment of the game, etc. but in reality, that's just you getting better. A 1400 player might be someone you aspire to be. To me, he'll be a feeder. Skill is relative.

Establish a foundation for the basics and you'll slowly start to feel the difference in your personal gameplay.